History Channel Ticking Me Off!!!

[TimM]

On the contrary, they seem to deal with a lot of historical items on the episodes I've seen. One was a lottery ticket signed by George Washington

Okay, Sarah, I'll conceed you that point.

However, Ice Road Truckers!?  How does that connect to history?

[Alixz]

Or Ax Men?

[TimM]

Or this stupid thing about rodeos?

[LauraO]

my biggest pet hate is when you see something on TV or read something in a book, and you know its wrong, and you can't change it! and its so annoying because you know its wrong and theres nothing you can do about it!

[Alixz]

I just remembered one other thing.  I hate when the History Channel broadcasts something good like the Battle of Thermopylae, but then they are actually "pimping" the next new movie about the history story.

They did the same with Robin Hood.  There was a tie in to the movie that came out that year.

[LauraO]

a documentary on george VI was on as well, to tie in to the kings speech.

[Alixz]

I forgot about that one, too.  I did see the History Channel show and how they used scenes from "The King's Speech" during the documentary.

It gets good publicity for the movie and I would imagine that the History Channel gets a lot of money from the producers of the movie to show the documentary - especially at Academy Awards time.

[TimM]

At least this ties into history.  Unlike Ice Road Morons and Ax Idiots.

[TimM]

The U.S. History Channel is not showing The Kennedys mini-series.  Why?  In Canada, it's airing on our History Channel (Sundays at 9:00 PM for the next few weeks).  Like them or loathe them, the Kennedy family IS a big part of recent U.S. history.

This kind of show is what History is SUPPOSED to show, instead of Ice Road Morons and Axe Men.

[Robert_Hall]

There is some sort of legal reason that The Kennedys is not being aired in the US. It has nothing to do with the History Channel.  It is being shown just about everywhere else but the US!
 If you dislike the US History channel, why do you bother watching it ? I do not care for it either, but History Channel INTERNATIONAL has quite a few decent documentaries and dramatisations [just skip all the WWII & Hitler stuff]. Not long ago they had a show on' Russia Under the Tsars. Nothing earth shatteringly new, but certainly better than truckers and axe men. This past weekend  they were showing several different documentaries on the ancient world- Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc.

[bonbon823]

I understand that in the US there was some difficulty "shopping" the Kennedys program to the different satellite channels, and REELZ network in the end agreed to show it.  I don't know if History chose not to show it or if their price was too high or what.  I too have been disappointed with History's programs although I do enjoy Ax Men and Pawn Stars.  But for the most part they do seem to have a lot of programs on lately about aliens and stuff like that...not interested.

[bestfriendsgirl]

The History Channel's been going downhill for the past three years or so. I do like Pawn Stars and American Pickers, but the alien and apocolypse stuff is for the birds!

[Alixz]

"The Kennedys," the brainchild of Joel Surnow, the conservative behind the hit show "24," is an eight part miniseries about the first family of American politics -- and the series itself courts as much controversy as it seeks to portray. After vocal complaints from the Kennedy family and historians, the series was dropped by its producer, The History Channel, and then struggled to find a broadcast home -- it was rejected by Showtime and Starz, amongst other outlets -- before being picked up by ReelzChannel.

After one mild trailer, a new one has been released, this one revealing alleged nefarious intentions, affairs and unsubtle evil speeches from family patriarch, Joe Kennedy. The film closely mirrors that of the script preview.

I think that the Kennedys didn't like the way their family, which has been deified in the US, was treated in this miniseries.  

It seems that the truth hurts.

[Alixz]

Robert - I know that I try to watch the History Channel because very often there is not much on anywhere else.  We have to pay extra for History International and we already pay way too much for the "package of crap" that we have.

I don't watch sports.  I don't watch shopping shows.  I don't watch reality shows.  I don't watch anything with a laugh track (I have said this before, I don't need a laugh track to tell me when something is funny).

I used to watch Animal Planet and Home and Garden TV, but that got boring after while.

Last night I watched the premier episode of the new Upstairs - Downstairs on PBS.  The story picks up about 40 years after the first one ended with a new generation of residents now under the hand of the housekeeper who used to work there as a maid before.

On broadcast I watch The Good Wife and either Grey's Anatomy or the original CSI.  I never liked the spin offs of CSI.

I hate and that means HATE the competition shows like American Idol and Dancing With The Stars,  There are many more now but I have never watched and don't even know the names of them.  I don't care who is the next new singing sensation and I cringe to see the old fat actresses and out of shape actors or virtually unknown "has beens" prancing around the dance floor of DWTS.

So the History Channel used to be my refuge, but not old fat Pawn Stars or posturing high testosterone Axe Men or the ridiculous Ice Road Truckers.  I think I actually miss Hitler and Company.

[Robert_Hall]

As I recall, The Kennedys was originally planned with PBS in mind. Obviously they declined,  probably for the reasons Alixz stated. I really do not watch much TV at all. but have a few shows I try to catch, now big deal if I miss them though.
 I do, at times watch HGTV because a couple of my favourite designers have their own programmes. And the house hunting international interests me, as we are always talking about buying a place in Europe.